Pitched Battle in West

Let’s see . . .

The Arizona Diamondbacks made a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday that had General Manager Joe Garagiola Jr. talking about Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale and how he might just be inclined to take his new duo of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling over those two Hall of Famers.

The Dodgers, either in response to their National League West rival’s acquisition of Schilling or an attempt at a little comedy, made a trade with the Chicago Cubs that was so stunning it would not have been a surprise if no one was talking. Certainly, no one was talking about Koufax and Drysdale.

Wasn’t it only yesterday that the Dodgers virtually gave away Ismael Valdes and Eric Young for relief pitcher Terry Adams amid whispers that they could no longer trust Valdes’ fortitude, or lack of it?

And now all of a sudden, amid a tightening division race, with the stretch drive ahead, they have reacquired Valdes, who had treatment for blisters and tendinitis in his brief tenure with the Cubs but didn’t have the heart transplant that the Dodgers seemed to think he needed.

Whom do you like? Who do you think will impact the race more?

Curt Schilling, a warrior and workhorse, or Ismael Valdes, a talent unfulfilled?

The answer is obvious, which is not to say there aren’t a couple of positives regarding the Dodgers’ reacquisition of a pitcher who was 2-4 with a 5.37 earned-run average for the Cubs.

One is that at a time when his farm system is barren and he doesn’t have the young weapons to trade for a Schilling or Mike Mussina or Andy Ashby or Denny Neagle, General Manager Kevin Malone still managed to acquire an experienced arm for virtually nothing, basically giving up the much-traveled and tried Jamie Arnold.

The other is that Valdes, at least, seems to be a more solid and reliable option than the inconsistent Eric Gagne, if that’s the direction Manager Davey Johnson goes, although his performance with the Cubs was far short of solid and reliable, and his tenacity during his previous life with the Dodgers was questioned to the extent that he and Eric Karros once tangled in the shower--clearly not a pretty sight.

Schilling, by contrast, is the epitome of tenacity and, at 33, goes home to Arizona having regained that form and mentality in the aftermath of a December shoulder surgery that delayed his 2000 debut.

He is a modest 6-6, but he pitched complete games in his last three starts with the Phillies and was 5-2 with a 2.00 ERA for his last eight, going seven innings or more in all eight.

Like Koufax and Drysdale in another era with the Dodgers, Johnson and Schilling give the Diamondbacks a potent left-right punch.

They combined for 629 strikeouts in 1998, the last full season for Schilling before he encountered the shoulder problems.

“There aren’t many teams who have a couple of No. 1s on their pitching staff like we now have in Randy and Curt,” said Jerry Colangelo, Arizona’s managing general partner.

“This could be a very significant acquisition in a very tight pennant race.”

Schilling was being pursued by several teams, including the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees and Mets, but his limited no-trade clause restricted Philadelphia’s options, and the Diamondbacks gave up four players that legitimately, as Phillie General Manager Ed Wade insisted, “answer a lot of our needs.”

The package included:

* Left-handed starter Omar Daal, 16-9 last year but an inexplicable 2-10 and banished from the Arizona rotation;

* Vicente Padilla, a 22-year-old right-hander with major potential who figures to be the Phillies’ closer;

* Nelson Figueroa, at 9-4 Arizona’s top pitcher at triple A and a likely starter for the Phillies;

* Travis Lee, who received a $10-million signing package as the prospective cornerstone of the expansion franchise three years ago but has struggled offensively the last two years and was sent to triple A on July 16.

In trading Schilling and Ashby, who was recently dealt to the Atlanta Braves, the Phillies have acquired a mother lode of potentially attractive and comparatively young talent.

Nevertheless, this was a trade the Diamondbacks had to make given the fact that the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants continue to close in and there has been mounting pressure on Johnson to win every start with Daal struggling, Todd Stottlemyre out until September because of an elbow problem and Armando Reynoso an inconsistent 7-6.

Schilling relieves some of that burden and probably will make his first start for the Diamondbacks on Friday against Florida. As a player traded with a multiyear contract, he had the right to demand a trade at the end of the season, but he agreed to waive that prerogative, happy to join a contender and return to his former hometown. He is under contract next year at $6.5 million, after which he can become a free agent.

Valdes can become a free agent at the end of this year, when it would be a surprise if he is re-signed considering his 2000 salary in Chicago went to $5.75 million, which equates at this point to about $2.875 million per win, and which, under baseball accounting methods, is added in total to the Dodger payroll, lifting it to $95 million--a little more pressure on a manager who seemingly has to win.

How much Valdes can help him in that regard is a mystery still to be unraveled. No mystery about Schilling. He and Randy Johnson may not be Koufax and Drysdale, as the Arizona general manager suggested, but they are a similarly dominant duo and, perhaps, enough of a force and edge in a division that figures to go to the wire.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Giving Them the Old 1-2

With Wednesday’s acquisition of Curt Schilling to go with staff ace Randy Johnson, the Arizona Diamondbacks arguably have the best Nos. 1 and 2 starters in the National League. The top two starters for the National League’s division leaders (denoted by *) and first three wild-card contenders (**):

ATLANTA*

62-39

*

Greg Maddux

2000

Inn.: 1562/3

Hits: 147

Bb: 31

So: 119

Cg: 4

SH: 1

W-L: 12-4

Era: 3.27

Career

W-L: 223-130

Era: 2.84

*

Tom Glavine

2000

Inn.: 152

Hits: 143

Bb: 46

So: 107

Cg: 2

Sh: 1

W-L: 12-5

Era: 3.49

Career

W-L: 199-121

Era: 3.39

*

ST. LOUIS*

57-43

*

Darryl Kile

2000

Inn.: 1421/3

Hits: 134

Bb: 37

So: 132

Cg: 1

Sh: 0

W-L: 12-6

Era: 4.36

Career

W-L: 104-101

Era: 4.32

*

G. Stephenson

2000

Inn.: 129

Hits: 133

Bb: 40

So: 78

Cg: 2

Sh: 1

W-L: 11-6

Era: 4.40

Career

W-L: 25-18

Era: 4.39

*

SAN FRANCISCO*

55-44

*

Shawn Estes

2000

Inn.: 115

Hits: 114

Bb: 71

So: 69

Cg: 3

Sh: 2

W-L: 10-3

Era: 3.99

Career

W-L: 50-39

Era: 4.26

*

Livan Hernandez

2000

Inn.: 142

Hits: 165

Bb: 45

So: 101

Cg: 2

Sh: 0

W-L: 9-7

Era: 4.25

Career

W-L: 36-34

Era: 4.36

*

ARIZONA**

56-45

*

Randy Johnson

2000

Inn.: 1662/3

Hits: 115

Bb: 47

So: 228

Cg: 6

Sh: 2

W-L: 15-3

Era: 2.16

Career

W-L: 175-91

Era: 3.18

*

Curt Schilling

2000

Inn.: 1122/3

Hits: 110

Bb: 32

So: 96

Cg: 4

Sh: 1

W-L: 6-6

Era: 3.91

Career

W-L: 105-89

Era: 3.91

*

NEW YORK**

54-44

*

Al Leiter

2000

Inn.: 132

Hits: 117

Bb: 47

So: 125

Cg: 1

Sh: 0

W-L: 10-4

Era: 3.41

Career

W-L: 100-75

Era: 3.78

*

Mike Hampton

2000

Inn.: 1342/3

Hits: 129

Bb: 71

So: 94

Cg: 2

Sh: 1

W-L: 9-7

Era: 3.61

Career

W-L: 74-50

Era: 3.52

*

DODGERS**

53-47

*

Kevin Brown

Inn.: 148

Hits: 105

Bb: 30

So: 132

Cg: 4

Sh: 1

W-L: 10-3

Era: 2.31

Career

W-L: 167-111

Era: 3.21

*

Chan Ho Park

2000

Inn.: 139

Hits: 139

Bb: 85

So: 119

Cg: 1

Sh: 0

W-L: 11-7

Era: 4.14

Career

W-L: 58-40

Era: 4.08

THE DEAL

TO DIAMONDBACKS

CURT SCHILLING

(In 2000)

Innings: 112 2/3

Games Started: 16

Complete Games: 4

Home Runs allowed: 17

Win-Loss record: 6-6

Earned-Run Average: 3.91

*

TO PHILLIES

TRAVIS LEE, 1B-OF

8 HR, 40 RBI, .242 BA

OMAR DAAL, Pitcher

2-10, 7.22 ERA

VICENTE PADILLA, Pitcher

2-1, 2.31 ERA

NELSON FIGUEROA, Pitcher

0-2, 7.47 ERA